Old Images: “Goon’s Disco”

I recently came across some old photos I shot over the last twenty years or so.

Rather than let them sit on a CD for the rest of my life I figured I’d save them to my desktop, dust them off, and share them with you guys one image at a time.

Hope you enjoy them.

Goon’s Disco

I shot this image of my old friend the Goon (not his birth name, obviously) in my bedroom of our old apartment at 886 N. Dennison Avenue in Columbus, Ohio. It was taken sometime in the summer of 1999, shortly after I moved into the apartment with Milan, Dave and Brett (you’ll be seeing them soon, I’m sure).

The image was shot on 120 color film with my Mamiya RB67. As usual, I used no additional lighting. There are only two light sources in this shot, the first being a floor lamp that was shining on the Goon directly to his right, and the second being a light shining on a rotating disco ball that’s hidden directly behind his head.

Yes, I used to have a disco ball in my bedroom.

This was a long exposure, probably a full second or two, which meant that the Goon had to stand very still so as to not appear blurry in the shot.

Shortly after this image was taken the Goon and I grew apart. I saw him a few more times that summer, and he came to the going-away party we threw in 2003 when we left Columbus, but I’ve heard very little from him since then.

Nothing too dramatic. I got busy with TLC, he was kind of doing his own thing. We had an argument around Thanksgiving of 1999, but it was short lived. Just a big dumb misunderstanding. Like many things, our friendship just kind of faded over time.

I spoke to him about two years ago on the phone. Just some simple catching up. Haven’t heard from him since.

Man, I don’t even know if I have a hi-res of that. I’d have to scan the film or photo, and unfortunately I don’t have a film scanner and the image is sitting in a portfolio somewhere in my dad’s basement in Wisconsin. Shoot me an email though and I’ll see if I can dig something up.